Strategic Responsiveness

How to Circumvent the Formal Strategy Process

Abstract

The analysis of major resource committing decisions is central focus inthe strategy field, but despite decades of rich conceptual and empiricalresearch we still seem distant from a level of understanding that canguide corporate practices under dynamic and unpredictable conditions.Strategic decision making is often conceived as ‘standing on the twofeet’ of deliberate or intended strategic decisions by top managementand emergent strategic decisions pursued by lower-level managers andemployees. In this view, the paper proposes that bottom-up initiativeshave a hard time surfacing in hierarchical organizations and that lowerlevel managers and employees, therefore, pursue various strategies to bypass the official strategy processes to act on emerging strategic issues and adapt to changing environmental conditions.

title = "Strategic Responsiveness: How to Circumvent the Formal Strategy Process",

abstract = "The analysis of major resource committing decisions is central focus inthe strategy field, but despite decades of rich conceptual and empiricalresearch we still seem distant from a level of understanding that canguide corporate practices under dynamic and unpredictable conditions.Strategic decision making is often conceived as ‘standing on the twofeet’ of deliberate or intended strategic decisions by top managementand emergent strategic decisions pursued by lower-level managers andemployees. In this view, the paper proposes that bottom-up initiativeshave a hard time surfacing in hierarchical organizations and that lowerlevel managers and employees, therefore, pursue various strategies to bypass the official strategy processes to act on emerging strategic issues and adapt to changing environmental conditions.",

N2 - The analysis of major resource committing decisions is central focus inthe strategy field, but despite decades of rich conceptual and empiricalresearch we still seem distant from a level of understanding that canguide corporate practices under dynamic and unpredictable conditions.Strategic decision making is often conceived as ‘standing on the twofeet’ of deliberate or intended strategic decisions by top managementand emergent strategic decisions pursued by lower-level managers andemployees. In this view, the paper proposes that bottom-up initiativeshave a hard time surfacing in hierarchical organizations and that lowerlevel managers and employees, therefore, pursue various strategies to bypass the official strategy processes to act on emerging strategic issues and adapt to changing environmental conditions.

AB - The analysis of major resource committing decisions is central focus inthe strategy field, but despite decades of rich conceptual and empiricalresearch we still seem distant from a level of understanding that canguide corporate practices under dynamic and unpredictable conditions.Strategic decision making is often conceived as ‘standing on the twofeet’ of deliberate or intended strategic decisions by top managementand emergent strategic decisions pursued by lower-level managers andemployees. In this view, the paper proposes that bottom-up initiativeshave a hard time surfacing in hierarchical organizations and that lowerlevel managers and employees, therefore, pursue various strategies to bypass the official strategy processes to act on emerging strategic issues and adapt to changing environmental conditions.